The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-07-14
HONESTY AND HYPOCRISY.
The True Voice and Sentiments of Ex-
Confederate and Union Veterans.

Bunker Hill day, with its striking in.
terchange of friendly feeling and pa.
triOtic sentiment, puts to shame the
paltry practices of politicians, now
thrust upon our attention on every
hand in anticipation of the Presidential
campaign of next year. The Old Do
minion and the old Bay State, the two
foremost Commonwealth of the revO-
luton, which were also prominent and
representative States of the antagonism
Of our civil war. were here in perfect
accord. The soldiers of Robert E Lee
encampment of Richmond, with wives,
sisters, daughters and cousins in their
company, were the honored guests of
John A. Andrew Post of the Grand
Army, and were escorted around Bos-
ton by other Grand Army posts and
Union veteran associations, and fed IL
Faneuil Hall. The platform where
they sat was decorated with the State
shields of Massachusetts and Virginia.
The invited guests numbered men of
distinction on the battle field, in Con-
gress and in various walks of public
and of business life Oil both sides of
the old line of division. But there was
not word of division uttered; not a
hostile emotion found vent. 1t could
not have been the mere courtesy of the
occasion that inspired the enthusiastic
tone of the utterances.
Comrade Harrison Hume, of the An
drew Post, as POSTMASTER of the ban
quet, began a singularly-impressive
address by quoting the words of
Virginian: THAT there is some thing
higher than the Confederate soldier
that there is some thing higher than the
Federal soldier-it is the brotherhood
of brave men," And he declared that
now, in Faneuil Hall: New England
offers you the hand which straight
from his soldiers heart, Grant offered
Lee at AppomattoX." She meant it,
said the speaker; and ''if there be some
with us as with you, who, having
learned nothing and forgotten moth
ing to satisfy their mad ambition
would fan anew the flames of strife
and discord, would doubt what have
said. the boys who wore the blue,
who barred their bosoms to the storm of
battle, will tell you that speak the
words of truth and soberness. He
addressed the guests as Comrades of
the Gray" and babe them remember
when on the heights of Fredericksburg
they beat back the hopeless assaults of
the Union army; he reminded the
Comrades of the Blue" of the assault
of Pickett at Gettysburg, to the mo-
ment when "the limit of human en-
durance has been reached,
and the most magnificent charge in
the annals of war has passed into his
tory" Then he said:
Comrades of the Gray, you have failed, for
the allwise God of battles had decreed that the
American Union should be one and indivisible;
but you then and there wrote your names on
the page of history as the 'bravest OF the
brave" Comrades Of the Blue, it was Virgini-
ans that made that charge Tonight those
same men extend TO you the right hand of fell
lowship. Comrades of the Gray, as l
stood upon one OF your hills Of blue, an Octo-
Der sun was sinking to rest and looked forth
upon your beautiful valley Of the Shenandoah,
with JOY and exultation, exclaimed: This is
my country" Do presume too much when /
say that as you stood to-day upon the green
turf of yonder venerable summit once wet
with precious blood, spilled in defense of hui
man rights and human liberty, overlooking
this great metropolis of New England,
while near you were beautiful cities and vii
lagos, where freedom and knowledge and NOR
ais and religion are the birthright of all; while
near you were Concord and Lexington where
the 'embattled farmers STOOD" and where
was fired the shot heard round the world and
near you that ancient university under whose
shadow Washington, to whom Virginia gave
birth, Of whose fame all other States are proud
to claim share, first drew his sword in COM
mand of American armies-that you, too ex-
claimed: God governs in the affairs Of men.
These, these are my brethren; and this, oh
this, too is my country
1t was the true voice of the North |
that spoke through the lips of Com
rade Hume, and the South knows it,
politicians with their ''mad ambition"
to the contrary Notwithstanding.
Nor is there any doubt in the North |
as to the true voice of the South. We |
all know perfectly well that the
South has turned over new leaf, and |
that it is going to stay turned. There |
is not left in the whole stretch of the |
former slave States a corporars guard |
of men who do not know that the Ma
lion is henceforth and forever above |
the State; the war settled it, and none |
Of them wish it were Otherwise, none |
Of them want slavery back again, they
are all faced to the front. The speech |
Of John Goode, of Virginia, empha-
sized and reiterated that fact. For the |
very purpose of emphasizing it he re-
called how all through the war Vir-
ginia was battlefield, and "almost
every house hospital" and when it
ended there was nothing left but the soil.
But, he declared, when any man sup
poses that Virginia. the mother of
Henry, of Jefferson, of Mason, of Mad
son, of Marshall, of Washington-does
not love the Union, ''he is most eyre
giously mistaken. 1--WE are ready to
grasp hands," he said, ''wIth the men
Of Massachusetts in starting our coun-
Try upon new career of prosperity"
These are honest words, and the men
hat utter such words when they are
Tisiting here, under the influence of
hospitality, talk the same way when
hey are at home and the occasion
rises. The Northern men who go South
will all vouch for this; it is only the